ABSTRACT
The Jos Plateau in Nigeria, the Fouta Djalon in Guinea, the Freetown Peninsula mountains and Mt Cameroon seem to have less impact on thunderstorm incidence, although in M. A. A. Mulero’s study the highlands of central Nigeria were shown to experience more storms in April and July at least. There are two clear thunderstorm seasons in the south, one preceding and one following the main rains of June to September, but only one peak storm period in the north. Line squalls are particularly important in the climatology of the Sahel as they produce high proportion of the rainfall of this area, but they are not insignificant in the south. Line squalls often pass localities during a particular part of the day suggesting possible source regions for the storms. Rainfall is commonly between 40 and 90 mm during the passage of a storm, and as the word ‘squall’ implies they are often associated with the strongest winds experienced in West Africa.
